{"id":376516,"date":"2026-06-26T23:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376516\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T23:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T23:36:12","slug":"evangelines-in-old-sacramento-reopens-in-historic-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/376516\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangeline\u2019s in Old Sacramento reopens in historic building"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a devastating fire that forced its closure for nearly a year, Evangeline\u2019s Costume Mansion in Old Sacramento is back in business.<\/p>\n

Owner Deborah Chauss\u00e9 opened the doors Friday morning to the store that was passed down by her mother, Dorothea Evangeline Chauss\u00e9, the costume and novelty shop\u2019s namesake. Located in the Howard House and Lady Adams building at 113 K St., Evangeline\u2019s has thousands of costumes in its inventory.<\/p>\n

The June 2025 fire caused extensive damage to the first floor Chauss\u00e9 told The Sacramento Bee<\/a>. She said the fire had probably been caused by electrical issues.<\/p>\n

Evangeline\u2019s has been a core part of Chauss\u00e9\u2019s life since 1985,<\/a> when she took over the business after her mother retired. The business celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"Evangeline\u2019s Evangeline\u2019s Costume Mansion owner Deborah Chauss\u00e9, second from left, chats with visitors during the store\u2019s grand reopening in Old Sacramento on Friday, June 26, 2026. The store had been closed for just over a year due to fire damage. HG BIGGS hg.biggs@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

The night of the fire, Chauss\u00e9 told The Bee she arrived at the business at 1:30 a.m. to see fire trucks lining the street.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the fire\u2019s aftermath, Chauss\u00e9 said there was huge support from the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outpouring on social media from the time of our fire has just been tremendous,\u201d Chauss\u00e9 said. \u201cSo many people have wished us well and express their sorrow about the event, the fire and the difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Chauss\u00e9 greeted dozens of friends and community members, one word came to mind to describe the day\u2014terrific. She said the re-opening wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the backing of the Sacramento community.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the good wishes daily have helped us stay motivated and keep thinking about the future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The reopening was celebrated by Sacramento city leaders, including Mayor Kevin McCarty who described Evangeline\u2019s as \u201cliterally a phoenix rising from the ashes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Evangeline\u2019s Evangeline\u2019s Costume Mansion owner Deborah Chauss\u00e9 poses for a portrait during the store\u2019s grand reopening in Old Sacramento on Friday, June 26, 2026. The store was closed for just over a year due to fire damage. HG BIGGS hg.biggs@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember coming here when I was a youngster, and now I have teenagers, and they love cruising around here and checking it out too,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cWe\u2019re pleased that you did not give up, and you decided to come back bigger and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ty Smith, the city\u2019s official historian, said the re-opening of Evangeline\u2019s is symbolic of the life of the historic building, where Evangeline\u2019s is housed.<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento City Historian Ty Smith chats with visitors in Evangeline\u2019s Costume Mansion in Old Sacramento on Friday, June 26, 2026, as the store celebrates its grand reopening after being closed for just over a year due to fire damage. HG BIGGS hg.biggs@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

In 1852, the building survived the \u201cgreat conflagration,\u201d a fire that burned more than 80% of the structures in the city, according to the Sacramento History Museum.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe building that you\u2019re in is a survivor too…\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt survived near calamity, and of course, (Evangeline\u2019s) has risen from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second and third stories are open to visitors, while the first floor housing the gift shop remains closed. It will reopen in three months, Chauss\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Emma Hall<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Emma Hall covers retail and business for The Sacramento Bee. Hall graduated from Sacramento State and Diablo Valley College. She is Blackfeet and Cherokee.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a devastating fire that forced its closure for nearly a year, Evangeline\u2019s Costume Mansion in Old Sacramento…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-376516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}